The Nightmares That Have Been This Overseas Trip and the Only Three Explanations for Donald Trump

This trip President Trump has made to Europe--England, Scotland and now, on to Helsinki--has been yet one more collection of fiascos, no surprise, for the nation, what with the his insulting the Queen of England and so, the UK people, to start.

Twitter counts ways 

US President Donald Trump 

'insulted' the Queen

Then he insulted their Prime Minister, Theresa May.

Donald Trump Attacks Theresa May 

Over Brexit;

 Brits Slam 'Rudeness

Not done there, he had to insult our NATO allies, as well.

Trump NATO summit starts with insults 

to US allies

Then, of course, once that damage was done, the next day he took it all back.

President Trump denies 

he criticized British prime minister

A couple days ago, at his golf course---of course--in Scotland, he called the EU an enemy.

On eve of Russia summit, 

Trump calls European Union 'a foe'

The EU.

An enemy.

Our largest trading partner, hands down.

List of the largest trading partners 

of the United States

And now, to wrap up this nightmare of an overseas trip, he is to meet with our self-sworn enemy, Russia, and their President Vladimir Putin, for a completely private meeting--translators only. This goes against all national and international protocol and security, both. No President has ever had such a meeting, nor should they, without advisors and witnesses, overseeing said meeting.

Ladies and gentlemen, honestly, this President is one of three things. He is either 

1. really, densely stupid, 
2. insane or 
3. treasonous to our nation and doing all this for Russia 

It's one of those three. It's got to be. There are no other explanations. What else is there? What else could it all be?

Seen on Facebook earlier today:

"So, lemme see if I get this.

Two of the most powerful men in the world, rightly or wrongly, are having a one-on-one in secret.

Both are world-class liars.

Putin is a long-time professional KGB (secret police & intel agency rolled into one) operative, thug, cold-blooded murderer, greedy authoritarian head of Russia who may have something (well, DOES have something but we don't know what just yet) on Trump, who is an easily manipulated con man, grifter, ignoramus wannabe authoritarian leader of the U.S..

What could possibly go wrong?"

--Gordon E Moore, friend of a FB friend

Link:

'Evil Has Won'

What Tying Health Care to Profit(s) Gets You

Yes sir/ma'am, this, this, among many other things, is just what, exactly, tying health care to profit and profits gets a nation---us.

U.S. Health Care Ranked Worst 

in the Developed World

Note two things about the article--First, it is from Time magazine, not some wild, irresponsible rag and two, it was published June 17, 2014.  As prices and costs for health care in our nation get ever-higher, this only becomes more true and only gets worse.

This study is from just last year.

Study: US healthcare system is worst 

among 11 developed nations

Report: U.S. Has the Worst Health Care System

Here are some of the other things tying health and health care to profits gains you.

Once again, U.S. has most expensive, 

least effective health care

Health Care Costs: 

The Leading Cause of Bankruptcy

So congratulations, America. The rest of the world knows better than this. We pay more, far more, than any other nation for health care and we have the worst medical outcomes.

Aren't we brilliant?  Seems "exceptional" to me, right?

Will you EVER learn?

You Must Read This Article

If you only read one piece this year on technology and what it is, where it's going and where it may or may not go and take us, you should read this.

Will Democracy Survive Big Data 

and Artificial Intelligence

It has far, far more in it than I could ever describe here.

It is both fascinating and alarming, at once.

Governments will no way be able to keep up with technology. Heck, they're already far, far behind. 

I would like--heck, I want--every member of our national, US Congress to read this, let alone our state legislators and office holders.

All the things called for in the article would have to be done by government, of course. It would have to be done by far-seeing, responsible legislators.

I don't see it happening.

I'd love to be wrong.

God help us all.

Links:

Elon Musk issues a stark warning about A.I.

Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar Crusade

 to Stop the A.I. Apocalypse

Elon Musk Says AI Is a Greater Threat Than North Korea

Elon Musk Warns: Regulators Must Be Proactive On AI

Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence 

could end mankind

Bill Gates is worried about artificial intelligence too

Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates 

Warn About Artificial Intelligence

Huge Changes Coming To Us All

Have you read about these mergers and purchases lately?

Amazon to Buy Whole Foods 

for $13.4 Billion

It seems Amazon is going to control a great deal of our otherwise retail purchases and purchasing. Up to now, it's been hard goods. Now they look to be getting extremely serious about the food markets, too.

It had a huge, nearly immediate effect on markets and companies, too.

Amazon-Whole Foods threat wipes out 

$40 billion in market value

Amazon Buying Whole Foods: 

Grocery Store Stocks Get Hammered

Amazon Deal for Whole Foods Starts 

a Supermarket War

With this one purchase, suddenly they're huge, nationally, in the food business.

Amazon 'will be a top 5 grocer in the US' 

with Whole Foods acquisition

Here's a good share of the reason for it all.

Wal-Mart in the Crosshairs of 

Amazon's Takeover of Whole Foods

Here's what it all boils down to.

The Amazon-Walmart Showdown 

That Explains the Modern Economy

Behemoths In a Battle To Sell You Everything

Meanwhile, retail and retail stores and retail buying all over the nation are getting also hammered, along with their stock prices.

The Great Retail Apocalypse of 2017

What this means is that no one really knows where we're headed Well, except that we're headed online, more and yet more all the time.

Department stores are failing -- 

here's where everyone is buying

And it's all kinds of stores right down to the dollar stores.

Taking the Dollar-Store Concept Online

How The Online Dollar Store Startup Hollar 

Found Success

Besides reshaping retail and how and why we buy, it also means what our communities and cities look like and how they're built.

Dying shopping malls are wreaking havoc 

on suburban America

10 new uses for abandoned malls

7 Dead Shopping Malls That Found 

Surprising Second Lives

Here's What's Becoming Of America's Dead 

Shopping Malls

Shopping centers look to entertainment, 

recreation to fill empty

anchors

Of course there's money--lots of big money--in health care so why wouldn't this happen, right?

America's Dying Malls Are Getting 

a Second Chance as Hospitals

The fact is, stores and business and retail and so, our cities and our lives are changing and the changes are coming and will be coming at us fast. Very, very fast. 

It's a lot like the current Presidential Administration.

Completely unpredictable.

Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Links:

Jeff Bezos is the smartest guy in business

Amazon-Whole Foods deal could mean new phase of retail

Why Amazon is buying Whole Foods

Rooted in Counterculture, Whole Foods’ Founder Finds an Unlikely Refuge

Not done there, there was also this, just this week. Not as big but still significant.

Walmart to Buy Bonobos, Men's Wear Company, 

for $310 Million

And for a bit of fun:

Tweets react to Amazon buying Whole Foods, 

riff on overpriced groceries

Think We Don't Need to Raise the Minimum Wage?

Many people say we don't need to raise the minimum wage in America. I see it repeatedly.

It made me think.

I remember, distinctly, how I was proud of making $21,000 per year as assistant manager of a men's retail store I worked at in 1979. It didn't make me rich, no way, but I very clearly remember that wage landmark at that time.

So I took that amount and time and put it in a inflation calculator online. The results were stunning.

It showed that that amount, $21,000 per year in 1979 would be the equivalent of earning over $74,000 today. In fact, it would be nearly $75,000 in today's money.

Don't believe it? See for yourself.

CPI Inflation Calculator

Mind you, a great, great deal has changed since, what with retail stores continually being hit and hit hard by "big box" and now online stores, these wages, at least from retail positions, are no longer possible. That said, other industries could, in fact, pay far more reasonable, fair and living wages.

The statistics prove this out.

For most workers, real wages have 

barely budged for decades

2014 Continues a 35-Year Trend 

of Broad-Based Wage Stagnation

The Average American Worker 

Earns Less Today Than 40 Years Ago

And corporations have made out very, very well.

Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide

As have the CEOs and executives.

CEO Pay Has Grown 90 Times Faster 

than Typical Worker Pay

Corporate Executives Are Making 

Way More Money Than Anybody

The problem is especially American, too.

American CEO pay: U.S. executives are paid 

way more than foreigners

It's pretty outrageous what is happening and what we're letting happen to and with the nation's wealth.

The Richest 1% Have Captured 

America's Wealth

The Top 1 Percent's Share of Income 

from Wealth Has Been Rising for Decades

We need to fight. We need to fight back. We need to end the Citizens United ruling and end campaign contributions entirely. It's the only way we'll get it back where the government and nation work for the people again, for all the people and not just for the already-wealthy and corporations.

Links:

This is why your CEO makes more than 300 times your pay

Rich People | IT - International Times

Taylor Swift's Holiday Gift to President Obams

When I first saw Taylor Swift's latest video, I just didn't care for it. It's too pop, it's too cute, it's more of just being all about her.

What a fool I was.

Today's news made me realize, it's not about herself at all. It's about President Obama, clearly.

Did you see the latest report on our national economy?

US economy notches its best performance in over a decade

Gross domestic product for the third-quarter leapt a better-than-expected 5%.

The U.S. economy’s third-quarter performance was the strongest the nation has recorded in more than 10 years, as consumers continue to spend more as they feel emboldened by a stronger job market, a stronger housing market and rising stocks.

Gross domestic product for the third-quarter leapt a better-than-expected 5% according to the Commerce Department’s “third” estimate. That growth exceeded the prior quarter’s 4.6% increase. It also was the greatest advance since the third quarter of 2003, according to Bloomberg.

U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday following the data, driving the Dow industrials above 18,000 for the first time.

With this, on top of all the other good news on and about America in these past 6 years, all the Republicans and Right Wingers and Tea Party members and just the haters in general, it makes me think of Taylor Swift's latest.



Haters gonna' hate, Mr. President.

Shake it off.

To rent or buy housing in KC?

CNN Money and Fortune Magazine have an article online today with some interesting insight into residential real estate across the country.  They ask the question, in which cities in the country does it make more sense to rent or buy your home, your living space?

Here's where Kansas City falls, according to them and their data:

12 cities: Where to buy and where to rent

Kansas City, Mo.: Rent

Average list price: $278,334

Average monthly rent : $1,028

Price to rent ratio: 22.55

Kansas City ranks sixth on the list of cities where it's more affordable to rent than buy.

With a glut of houses on the market, owners who can't sell their homes are resorting to renting to make ends meet.

"Rental prices have come down over the past couple years because of the economy," said Dave Frohling, owner of Advantage Homes. "And at the same time, we're finding more owners out there who just can't sell their homes and are turning to renting."


Interestingly, they rank Omaha the same way:  http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/real_estate/1010/gallery.cities_rent_buy/8.html


Seems it still stinks to be in residential real estate here in town, I guess.

Quote of the day II--Billionaire for tax cuts

Warren Buffett proposed a further tax cut for the middle class, upper middle class and lower middle class -- essentially, everyone except the wealthy -- in an interview Tuesday with CNN Money's Poppy Harlow, at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, DC

The billionaire investor, who, with a roughly $45 billion net worth, is the country's second richest person (behind Bill Gates), also said the government should raise taxes on the richest 2 percent of the country. That particular message was nothing new: He's been saying for years that the rich need to bear a greater share of the tax burden. Buffett reiterated Tuesday that he has the lowest tax rate of anybody in his Omaha office, even despite the fact that he doesn't have a tax shelter. But his tax cut proposal was new.
"I think maybe we should cut taxes for the middle class," he said. "Upper middle class [and] lower middle class."
Taxing the rich, he said, is the best way for the government to boost its income.

"The question is, Do we get more money from the person that's gonna serve me lunch today, or do we get it from me? I think we should get it from me," he said.

I couldn't agree more, Mr. Buffet.

Link to the original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/05/warren-buffett-tax-cuts_n_751503.html